I know that the tech group is working on getting rid of Silverlight for webcasting. We are trying to plan for our next broadcast and would like to know if there is any kind of ETA for when this will be done.

Is there any way I could get my hands on some kind of beta version that is good enough to do a trial run with?

We would like to explore a variety of alternate client devices / apps, but none of them support silverlight.

I would say the new player should be available for full production use mid-Jan.

However, the new player is very usable and is currently in the portal. In the same area as the silverlight player, there is a link called "Early Access Program". Clicking on this link reveals the..... Early Access Program. This will explain a little about the new player and how to use it. Feel free to test it out.

This is also the same on the Home page for shut-ins and others of that like.

When you say currently in the portal and give you instructions I don't know what portal you are talking about. Is it the tech.lds.org or is it portal.ldswebcast.org or what? Please give a URL if you can.

I just used the new player broadcasting to two receiving sites. I was able to use our existing Core 2 Duo laptops to receive the broadcast in 720p at 2200 kbps without any buffering or quality degradation. The receiving sites were flat at 2200 kbps for the duration of the meeting. It was the first time we were able to use the LDS Webcast solution as our primary system successfully and it was flawless. We were sending 720p at 29.97 fps and 128 kbps audio. We also used brighter projectors at the receiving sites. The feedback from members at the receiving sites indicates this was the best quality experience we have ever had at the receiving sites. I'm so glad they finally got us a player that works!